Shocking News: American TV anchor asks about Iraqi dead

I was watching CNN last night and Rick Sanchez (pictured) was interviewing correspondent Michael Ware about the milestone that had just been reached: 4,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq. Then Sanchez absolutely stunned me. He asked about the Iraqi dead. I fell off the couch.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you, Michael. Michael, I just want to interrupt you for a moment, because since we're talking of numbers, I want to ask you about something that rarely is talked about on network television in the United States. And that is, the 4,000 Americans is serious enough. But is it your understanding that the number of dead Iraqis would, what, double, triple? Or what would it do? What is that number? Do you know it?

WARE: Well, Rick, no one can give you a figure of the number of Iraqi souls that have been lost in the five years so far of this conflict. But it's exponentially greater than two or three or even ten times this terrible number of American casualties. We're talking about -- on conservative estimates between 80 thousand to 100,000 Iraqis have lost their lives.

And that's not to mention more than 4 million Iraqis are displaced from their homes. 2 million are lost here in Iraq wanting to return home. 2 million more plus are beyond this country's border and there seems little hope that any of them to return.

And the entire social fabric of this country has been torn asunder with a legacy of this war that it's now divided along sectarian lines, Sunni versus Shiite, when it never was before. Not even under Saddam. So the impact and the toll that this conflict has taken on these countries is almost immeasurable. [Transcript]

Some may fault Sanchez for saying "double, triple" and appearing grossly ignorant, but I'd like to give him a pat on the back. After all, we all know who the really ignorant people are: the ones who don't ask any questions and keep believing it's "double, triple."

Comments

[VSur]

Melvin, I thought you should read this WSJ article dated Mar 24 2008 which I heard being mentioned on a radio talk show while I was driving home from work: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120631495290958169.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks.
I agree that Bush has made a lot of mistakes, but why is he the only one being singled out for the Iraq war? Unfortunately, the Iraq war is a result of the "American" thought process. Maybe things will change as the world's economy is reshaped, but that's for time to reveal to us.

[meenu]

I know this is 10 days late and no one will read it, but the reason Bush is singled out is because ultimately, he gives the go ahead. there were a lot a people involved in deciding this misguided atrocity, but at the end of the day, the leader has to take the blame.

And also perhaps, the Americans who voted him into a second term.